View From The Top: HP CEO Whitman Answers Tough Partner Questions

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Today you highlighted Chromebook but not a word about Microsoft. What is the state of the Microsoft partnership?

We just happened to get an incredible review for our Chromebook and decided to highlight it. We have a great long-term partnership with Microsoft. We do a huge amount of business with them. I think we are still their largest customer, maybe their second largest customer. So we collaborate with them. In fact, I would say the collaboration is better today than it has been for many years not only in the consumer space but also servers and tools. So it is a very strong relationship. What I will say is -- and you all see this every day -- there is a new world order out there. If you look at the shift in the share of operating systems over the last couple of years, the share shift has been dramatic, from almost a 100 percent Windows operating system [share] to probably 60 percent share of market for Windows. Android has come on very strong and Chrome is starting to get real traction. So our world has changed.

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XChange Solution Provider 2015 is finally upon us and the timing couldn't be better. The premier channel event is happening March 1-3 in Dallas, bringing together 225 solution provider decision makers from across North America. CRN is at the event to provide news, analysis and a firsthand take from partners.